Britain will pay France nearly half a billion pounds over the next three years to step up efforts to prevent small boats from crossing the Channel, Rishi Sunak has announced.
The Prime Minister committed to sending Paris £478 million to fund a new detention centre in France and hundreds of extra French law enforcement officers.
Mr Sunak announced the package after meeting French President Emmanuel Macron during a UK-France summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Friday. But there was no sign of the returns agreement with France that the Government desires as Mr Sunak makes “stopping the boats” one of his top priorities. The UK has already committed more than £300 million to France in the last decade to help tackle unauthorised migration.
More than 3,000 people have already made the perilous sea journey this year, with almost 46,000 arriving by unofficial routes in 2022.
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